Wednesday, September 12, 2012

On what's so wrong with treating people right?

This is what's written on the back of my super awesome orange Refugee Council t-shirt. I went running in my Refugee Council T-Shirt over the weekend and I always get looks of slight puzzlement as people strain to read what's written on the front and on the back (that in the fact it's a rather appropriate Dutch orange).

So what's so wrong about treating people right? The UK has a legal and moral obligation to respect and offer safe haven to all those who fear persecution in their country of origin. Yet media and political pressure have seen a culture of what Gibney calls non-arrival measures in Europe. Simultaneously making it more difficult for asylum seekers to arrive on UK soil and tightening the restrictions on granting asylum and refugee status once they do arrive. We need to bring a sense of kindness and decency back to policies on refugees and Britain needs to live up to its commitment to the 1951 Convention on Refugees. The Refugee Council helps people to live their lives in safety and dignity - please help me to raise money for their incredibly important work. This is what your donation contributes to:£30 could buy educational materials, including pens and notebooks, for young refugees.£50 could help us buy much needed items, including shoes and clothes, for newly arrived children.£75 could help us continue youth activities like cricket, football and trips to the countryside, which are invaluable to the children.£150 could help us ensure refugee children get into school.£250 could help our campaigning and lobbying efforts on policies that affect refugees and asylum seekers.Please donate whatever you can here and I'll keep running for refugees and asylum seekers!No Woman Should be Missed Out CampaignIf you are registered to vote in the UK please write a letter to your MP (if you live in Scotland you can also write to your MSP to support bills related to female refugees rights here) it's a campaign from the Refugee Council and Asylum Aid called 'No Woman Should be Missed Out' this campaign , about 7000 female refugees enter the UK each year fleeing persecution and violence. The 1951 Convention on Refugees made no specific provision for women refugees, if a woman is persecuted because of her gender she applies to become a Convention refugee under the banner of 'belonging to a particular social group'. The UK showed a commitment to eradicating violence and offering protection to female refugees in their Violence Against Women Strategy, yet only one of the 100s of actions outlined in the strategy has been put into practice. Westminster is due to review the strategy in November so please write to your MP to ask them to protect women and girls seeking asylum from violence both at home and abroad. This is Asylum Aid's very handy leaflet on the campaignAnd you can write to your MP here it takes 2 minutes and can bring about the positive change we need in asylum policy directed at women and girls.